The present invention relates to a mechanism for driving a shaft of a station of a reproduction apparatus and, more specifically, for driving a shaft of a development station of an electrographic copier/duplicator or printer.
It is known to bolt a drive mechanism for a shaft of a development station to a mechanism plate near the rear of a copier/duplicator. Power is applied to the station from the back side of the mechanism plate through a gear or sprocket. The development station is located at the front side of the mechanism plate, and it moves on guides into and out of engagement with the drive mechanism. As the development station is moved into the copier from the front side of the plate the shaft on the station passes through an opening in the plate and enters a clutch of the drive mechanism. Guides mount the station in the apparatus so that the station moves in a direction substantially parallel to the axis of the shaft to engage the shaft with the drive mechanism and disengage the shaft from the drive mechanism.
The shaft on the station may not be exactly aligned with the clutch of the drive mechanism. Therefore, the bolts that mount the drive mechanism on the plate are positioned in vertically elongated slots in a flange on the clutch. By removing the back of the copier, these bolts can be loosened to permit vertical adjustment only of the clutch in order to improve the alignment of the shaft and the clutch. This vertical adjustment can be in two parallel directions (i.e., up and down) within limits determined by the length of the slots. However, there is no horizontal adjustment or skew adjustment, so when the bolts are re-tightened, the shaft may not be aligned precisely with the clutch. The resulting misalignment adversely affects the drive to the development station and may cause the shaft to bind in the clutch. The mechanism is also difficult to install in view of the requirement to attach nuts to the mounting bolts from the back of the copier.